But inside Rose, something had begun to shift.
At seventy-five, she stood before her mirror one morning and saw a stranger. Every choice—where to live, what to cook, how to spend weekends—had been shaped around someone else. She had been a wife, a mother, a caretaker. But who was she now?
Her sister squeezed her hand. “It’s never too late to find yourself.”
That sentence lit a spark. And the spark became a fire.
The Breaking Point
At first, Charles didn’t notice. Rose took longer walks, joined a book club downtown, changed her hairstyle. But soon, the distance between them grew. She became quiet, withdrawn, often staring out the window for hours. When he asked what was wrong, she’d only say, “Nothing, Charles. Nothing at all.”Continue reading…
